Did you really think we wouldn't get here?
The place where we define rules for ALL workplace activity, including how you dress your online
Avatar you use in Second Life on the company dime?
Oh, my poor, naive, trusting friend. OF COURSE, we were going to get here. I mean, we can't have you getting your groove on by adding lace, leather or whatever you do on the weekends to your corporate Avatar. That would be wrong. And I know just the company to break the ice for the rest of us. We'll use…. IBM!!
Increasingly, online zones like "Second Life" are becoming places where commerce is happening. Big companies such as IBM Corp. and Intel Corp. use these graphics-rich sites to conduct meetings among far-flung employees and to show customers graphical representations of ideas and products.
Now, in hopes of capturing the power of this new platform while avoiding potentially embarrassing incidents, IBM is taking the unusual step of establishing official guidelines for its more than 5,000 employees who inhabit "Second Life" and other online universes.
Step #1 – Leave your freaky side at home. From the AP article on the guidelines:
"IBM's rules — which apply to "Second Life," "Entropia Universe," "Forterra," There.com and other worlds — are logical extensions of the real world: Don't discuss intellectual property with unauthorized people. Don't discriminate or harass.
Other rules are unique to the metaverse, which requires users to create animated avatars with distinct appearances, personalities and gestures. "Second Life," owned by San Francisco-based Linden Lab, has more than 8 million avatars; most look human, but many take the form of chipmunks, zombies or fantastic beasts.
IBM guidelines suggest being "especially sensitive to the appropriateness of your avatar or persona's appearance when you are meeting with IBM clients or conducting IBM business." Rules caution workers who have multiple avatars or frequently change their avatar's appearance. It's common to have numerous avatars — similar to having multiple e-mail addresses for work and personal use.
"Building a reputation of trust within a virtual world represents a commitment to be truthful and accountable with fellow digital citizens," IBM states. "Dramatically altering, splitting or abandoning your digital persona may be a violation of that trust. … In the case of a digital persona used for IBM business purposes, it may violate your obligations to IBM."
Translation – guys shouldn't dress up like Tina Turner or anyone else from Mad Max. Unless, of course, you want to see the HR people pop onto your screen dressed like the Two Bobs from Office Space.
I like your avatar Kris. Pretty rockin!
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